Ardent Group wants to use this grant to help different sectors affected by Covid-19.
Since 2016, the Liège group, Ardent Group, which encompasses Gaming1 and Ardent Invest, has organised the annual Ardent Awards. The aim is to help fund non-profit organisations in Liège that work on societal issues (disability, childhood, family or even integration) and a municipality that wishes to set up a digital project. This year, the Liège group has decided to postpone the 2020 awards ceremony so they can allocate this budget to sectors affected by the public health crisis.
An €80,000 grant has been redistributed
Ardent Group's directors would like to do their bit by redistributing €80,000 to various sectors. Emmanuel Mewissen, CEO and co-founder of Ardent Group explains:
"Since March, our country has been hit by an unprecedented public health crisis. Lots of professions have played and still play a crucial role in helping save lives and keep our country running. Naturally, we think of care workers who are particularly affected by this pandemic. The aim of the Ardent Awards is really to help these professions working hard on the frontline. Fighting this epidemic and the current situation is everyone's responsibility and companies in particular should be doing their bit."
Therefore, €30,000 has been donated to CPAS, the public social welfare centres in Liège, to go towards food banks to provide food to the most underprivileged people. An additional €10,000 was given to the Solidaris Centrale de Services à Domicile, a home service centre that supports people in need, to help fund medical equipment so they are able to fight against the virus more effectively. Furthermore, €20,000 was awarded to the Wallonia-Brussels Federation for the "École Numérique 2020", a project set up by Digital Wallonia which aims to provide schools with the digital means to educate the leaders of tomorrow and to help pupils in need, even remotely.
Practical local initiatives
And finally, €20,000 was shared amongst different land-based Business Units belonging to Ardent Group (Circus Casino, Grand Casino de Namur and Casino de Spa, among others) so they can contribute to local initiatives.
One of these initiatives involved donating €3,000 to the hairdressers' federation so they were able to offer €5 vouchers to nurses working at the Liège University Hospital (CHU). Resto Chez Vous also received €2,000 to go towards providing restaurant meals to underprivileged people in Seraing and Jemeppe. In addition, €5,000 was awarded to the Reine Astrid hospital in Malmedy.
The ceremony for the 5th annual Ardent Awards will take place in March 2021. To find out more, check out the Ardent Group website (in French).
